Greece had for years a distorted model of economic growth, Infrastructure Minister Christos Spirtzis said on Wednesday, speaking at the Development Conference of Thessaly.

“The message that has to come out is that we have to finish with the old. We had a distorted growth model which was based on the development of Athens and Thessaloniki and led to the devaluing of very large parts of the country,” he said.

The minister cited a lack of a national strategic plan for the county’s infrastructure and all other aspects of the economy.